A Lee killer who knifed his 21-year-old wife to death before fleeing to Dover has been jailed for a minimum of 17 years today (March 14).

Orina Morawiec was found dead in a bikini with stab wounds to her neck and chest in the Eastdown Park flat she shared with husband Farhad Safi last August.

News Shopper: Orina Morowiec

Earlier this month, 22-year-old Safi, who met his future wife at Lewisham College and went on to become a "controlling" husband, was convicted of her murder.

The Afghan asylum seeker may have been angered by her request for a divorce and, after repeatedly stabbing her on August 14 last year, covered her face, washed his hands and the knife before leaving and locking the door behind him.

He was later found by police walking along the A20 dual carriageway near the entrance of the Channel Tunnel "without a penny in his pocket."

During police interviews, Safi tried to blame the killing on a Peckham gang who were trying to frame him, naming other people for the crime in a ruse never seriously considered by the police.

In mitigation, his barrister James Scobie admitted it was a "desperate" action.

Ms Morawiec's mother wept in court today while Safi nodded calmly as Judge Charles Wide sentenced him to life in prison, with a minimum 17 year term.

The judge said: "This was a truly terrible crime.

"It must have been terrifying for Orina when she realised what you were going to do and it's been harrowing for her family who loved her very much."

He said: "It was plainly considered by you rather than being some explosion in the heat of the moment.

"She was caught unawares. One can tell that from where she was, how she was clothed with the mobile near to her hand, under the duvet and the fact that she was unable to defend herself."

The body of Polish-born Orina was discovered after she did not turn up to meet her mother Anna Morwawiec who she had arranged to go swimming with at 1pm.

In a statement, Ms Morawiec said: "Orina loved her husband very much and trusted him so much. This was her problem.

"It is so difficult to see the husband she loved so much and believed in, now in court for her murder.

"This murder has caused such devastation, to Orina, to me and to Farhad. I miss Orina so much and think of her all the time; she was and still is my life."